Tag Archives: aliens

(Although we have a few comments to make regarding the film as a whole the majority of this review will be dedicated to the story’s adaptation from page to screen.)

Gavin Hood’sEnder’s Game takes a science fiction classic and visualizes it with dazzling realism and originality. The opening is rough and plagued by hokey dialogue but as the story progresses it gradually comes into its own, culminating in arguably the most breathtaking climactic end battle in all of science fiction to date, although the penultimate battle scenes leading up the climax feel truncated, making the third act feel rushed. Asa Butterfield (the principal lead) delivers a performance that becomes increasingly impressive as the film progresses.

As both writer and director, Hood impressively adapts difficult material to the silver screen, improving notable segments from the book such as the battle school sequence and simulated battles, and correlating Mazer Rackham’s final battle with Ender’s active progress during the course of the main plot.

However, some adaptation decisions were more poorly chosen, such as the near total absence of Ender’s older brother, Peter, who features so prominently in terms of theme and character development (for Ender) but is almost completely absent from the film, despite his being referenced often. As written, the character of Peter should have been omitted altogether to prevent unnecessary dilution of the plot. Also the psychologist character whose presence remains strong throughout the story is so poorly written and spouts redundant dialogue and concepts that are not illustrated in the film, especially earlier in the portions. So much more could have been done with the character to both expand and draw out Ender’s character but very little is ever utilized. The character ends up as a bloated element of fat filled with hot air.

Ender’s Game’s greatest weakness is its botched final reveal. By showing an additional point of view (an excellent adaptation choice) the filmmaker expands on the world of the story but presents the new information in a way that prematurely gives away the ending, thereby lessening the potential impact of one of the greatest reveals in science fiction history.

A small West Virginia town is transported from the year 2000 to the year 1632 in central Germany during the midst of the Thirty Years’ War due to an alien technology called the Assiti Shards.

You’ve probably never heard of 1632, Eric Flint or the Thirty Years’ War, have you? Let’s start by pointing out that the Thirty Years’ War was among the deadliest in human history and almost no one has ever written fiction or fantasy about them. As to Eric Flint…he wrote a book called 1632, a novel with a concept that sounds so horribly bad there is no way it can be any good. But it is. And not just good, but great. Flint tackles his premise with elegant execution that ensnares the reader in a strange and unique world and makes us love him for it. Available on Amazon.com.

Set in a dystopian socialist future, a low level bureaucrat goes in search of a rebel organization that promotes free thought, only to find himself ensnared in a devious government plot.

Orwell’s masterpiece is one long illustration of why communism is evil and in so doing creates one of the greatest and most haunting futuristic worlds in all of literature. 1984 is one of the few books with an overt message that isn’t beaten over your head every five minutes. If you walk away from this book with a new-found fear of rats eating your face off, we will understand. Available on Amazon.com.

3. Dracula by Bram Stoker

(horror, literary)

A young engaged couple is haunted by nocturnal visits of a reclusive vampire named Dracula. With the help of Prof. Van Helsing they follow the vampire across Europe in an effort put a stop to his long trail of gruesome murders.

A lone survivor barricades himself in his home while the dead come back to life and cover the earth.

This is where it all began. Before Anne Rice and George A. Romero there was Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend which introduced both zombies and vampires into the same story of post-apocalyptic survival and paranoia all the way back in 1954. In spite of being an absolutely incredible story, much was lost in its adaptation from page to the silver screen, including the most thought-provoking ending in all of undead literature. Our condolences to Richard Matheson‘s family; he passed on June 23, 2013. Available on Amazon.com.

6. Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan

(literary)

A group of American tourists disappear in the political uncertain country of Burma (Myanmar).

Combine a group of tourists who find themselves lost in the backwoods of a third world country with a character-centric story by novelist Amy Tan and what do you get? A perfectly constructed novel called Saving Fish from Drowning. You may recognize Amy Tan from her famed Joy Luck Club, but sadly Saving Fish doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Available on Amazon.com.

7. Sphere by Michael Crichton

(sci-fi, thriller)

A psychologist is sent to a military science base on the bottom of the ocean floor where a mysterious airplane has crashed.

While Sphere is easily author Michael Crichton’s best novel, the movie adaptation does the book little justice. And trust me, the plot sounds cheesier than the actual execution. Using an introspective protagonist to analyze a mysterious brain-wrenching plot, Crichton navigates the reader through certainty, doubt and speculation and into an immersive science fiction experience. Available on Amazon.com.

8. The Giver by Lois Lowry

(YA, sci-fi)

In a seemingly utopian society, a 12-year old boy enters training to become the new “Receiver of Memory” and comes to realize that their utopian society has eliminated all individuality and emotion.

Even though The Giver is intended for middle schoolers it is worth the quick read. Sporting a beautiful story with a universal message, Lois Lowry‘s Newbery Medal winner expounds the values of art, individuality and deep emotion better than most adult novels. Available on Amazon.com.

9. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

(literary)

Two young children in the American south experience racism first-hand as their father, a lawyer, attempts to defend an African American in a small town court.

10. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

(fantasy, literary)

A revisionist version of L. Frank Baum’s original The Wonderful Wizard of Oz which follows Elphaba as she faces a series of misfortunes that ultimately turn her into the Wicked Witch of the West.

It’s a shame this book has been nearly forgotten in the shadow of its sequels and the hit Broadway musical of the same name. Gregory Maguire‘s Wicked is truly a work of art in the form of a literary novel which thoroughly examines the nature of good and evil through a lengthy, in-depth discussion of surprising gravity. Available on Amazon.com.

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin (fantasy): A fully-realized fantasy world starring a large cast in a character-centric fantasy epic. Available on Amazon.com.

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (sci-fi, thriller): If there is ever a way to revitalize your childhood love for dinosaurs, this is the book is the way to do it. Available on Amazon.com.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (mystery): A dark mystery novel featuring one of the most interesting characters to hit the written page. Adapted into several films, including [list here]. Available on Amazon.com.

J.J. Abrams’s long anticipated sequel Star Trek: Into Darkness outdoes its predecessor in action, intensity and spectacle. Despite a running time of 2:12 (132 min) the film feels a little too short to play out the struggle between the protagonists and the main antagonist, played by Benedict Cumberbatch. The saturation of fan service and cross-references to other events in the Star Trek universe is an unending treat for fans of the franchise but at times detrimental, especially when it results in lines of hokey dialogue. A simple substitution of one of the film’s mindless action scenes for a short sequence to deepen character and theme development would have greatly benefited Into Darkness.

The first Star Trektook us with surprise by the acting intensity portrayed by its young cast. Into Darkness retains the same cast but fails to carry over the compelling emotional punch from its prequel. Part of this failure results from the from the disappointing script characterization of several cast members, namely Kirk, Spock, and Uhura. Benedict Cumberbatch proves the exception to this rule in his portrayal of the notorious Khan.

The biggest issue in Into Darkness is with the main antagonist, Khan. As one of the most intelligent and complex characters in the Star Trek Universe, more story and screen time oriented toward exploring the character’s intricacies is required in order for his personal journey to feel complete by the conclusion of his story arc. Instead of actually exploring the character, the story turns him into a 1-dimensional foe with no further development beyond the mid-point—a sad misappropriation of story potential. Much more could have been made of his shifting ally/enemy role as well but the film took the easy way out with his character, thereby losing both strength and depth as a result.

A nearly forgotten military sci-fi classic by author Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Trooperspushes science fiction beyond the commonplace genre novel toward the realm of literary fiction and its penchant for universal truth. By setting the story in a futuristic fictional setting, the author disassociates the book with any specific real-world war, allowing him to focus on a thorough examination of theme and moral philosophy.

Part science fiction novel, part moral essay, Starship Troopers devotes considerable time to philosophizing about the role of the soldier, the military, and the obligations of individuals in a collective society, especially to their fellow man. Drawing from the author’s own experience in the Armed Forces, Heinlein uses his well thought-out universe to constructively criticize the faults of American society through the eyes of a militaristic fascist one.

The novel’s thematic backbone creates a solid skeleton through which to elegantly explore the psychology of the soldier, specifically the infantryman, as he graduates through the various phases of his career from pre-enlisted civilian through mature officer. Heinlein also explores adjacent branches of this theme tree, including the developing relationship between master and student, commander and enlisted man, and father and son. With each new step toward maturity the protagonist sees the military machine with greater discernment and understanding (the military organization being a thematic substitute for ‘the world’ because in this case the military is the protagonist’s world).

Despite being published in 1959, Starship Troopers provides the experience of reading a novel written 10 or 20 years later than its actual publication date. Unfortunately, the dated dialogue continually bursts this illusion, ever reminding us that the novel was written in the 1950s. An over-use of unnecessary dialogue hedges such as “Uh” and “Umm” at the beginning of character responses slows the pace of many scenes and takes the reader out of the world of the story.

Readers expecting heart pumping action and thrilling space battles will be sorely disappointed in Starship Troopers. Heinlein deliberately steers clear of these tropes by means of the anti-“war genre” (e.g., anti-genre) to maintain focus on his themes and the insightful exposure of a combat soldier’s psychological journey. Despite the agedness of the book, many of his philosophical ideas remain universally valid to this day.

Super 8: think The Goonies with a touch of Cloverfield flavoring. A modernized 1940s pulp brought to life in the style of 1980s family adventure movies, watching Super 8 is in many ways like reliving the nostalgic childhood you never had.

While the ambiance is an undeniable factor in drawing the audience into the world of the story, what really sells the film is the remarkable chemistry within the cast. In no small feat, Abrams manages to garner authentic performances from his child actors from fade in to fade out.

While character chemistry and ambiance stand out in Super 8, the film is not without its pitfalls. Super 8 lacks the depth of Abrams’ other works, especially in terms of plot, which proves itself to be somewhat thin and predictable, making for a somewhat hollow filmic experience in what could have been a magical one. Nevertheless, parts of the film are memorable, especially the mini film-within-a-film which plays during the end credits.

In spite of its slender plot, Super 8 remains a wholesome thriller that is sure to stand as one of the greatest youth adventure films since The Goonies.

In an attempt to branch out in review material, Blue Gender is this blog’s first Minimalist Review of a TV series—a Japanese anime TV series at that.

Seemingly inspired by another anime series called Neon Genesis Evangelion (and occasionally approaching near plagiarism of it), this 26-episode animated series proves to be an incredibly dark, violent and gory sci-fi that is externally centered around a chosen few individuals who pilot exoskeleton suits (read: big robots) to fight off a global alien invasion. Internally, the story is about one individual trying to find his purpose in a seemingly pointless existence.

Although the series stays afloat with decent execution, it suffers from numerous logic holes, a unique but blunted concept (a directorial issue, see below), and a bloated, inefficient plot spread too thinly over 26 episodes. Even though it improves somewhat over time, the whole series still feels two episodes longer than is necessary. The plot is sometimes too predictable due to directorial shortcomings in dramatizing big reveals, even if they do occur on cue in a solid over-arching structure. The underlying emotional/relationship content remains adequate for the genre but could have been taken much further given its powerful seeds. Barely worth mentioning is the all-too-frequent laughable dialogue and occasional clips of unnecessary nudity (justified as “fan service,” which is typical of the anime supergenre).

Despite its numerous shortcomings, Blue Gender remains coherent, well structured, directed, animated and characterized, ultimately leading to a surprisingly entertaining end result, even if the commendable main character has a habit of becoming irritating a little too often. Testaments to the series’ impressive visuals are its gruesome imagery, realistic future technology, intimidating foes and intense battle sequences, most notable in the first six episodes. Most striking of all is the uniquely remarkable soundtrack which combines dirty grunge and dark choral with the experimental.

In the end, Blue Gender is worth a look for those into adult sci-fi series featuring an alien invasions, big robots and wholesale slaughter.